22 Oct 2023: An Interfaith Observance for Peace, Safety, Harmony and Solidarity
22 October 2023
An Interfaith Observance for Peace, Safety, Harmony and Solidarity
I joined the interfaith gathering organised by the Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore, where leaders and members of different religious communities came together to pray for a peaceful resolution to the Israel-Hamas conflict that has led to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza needing urgent attention.
We took a moment to remember that in times of conflict, innocent civilians die, families are torn apart, children live in fear, and communities are left in despair. We offered prayers to end the suffering the people of Israel and Gaza faced because of this war and for their safety, security, and the possibility of peaceful coexistence.
Communities globally and within Singapore are affected by the loss of innocent lives in this war, and there has been an outpouring of support for Israelis affected by the terrorist attack by Hamas and the Palestinians affected by Israel's retaliatory response to this attack.
We recognized that this is an issue that individuals may have strong feelings about and deeply care for. However, it remains imperative that we consistently avoid expressing opinions in a manner that could provoke anger or hatred.
We also reiterated our commitment to respectful dialogue, which is essential for fostering understanding among various communities and their sentiments. I have been working on this in private and will continue to do so from an interfaith perspective.
At this event, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam dialogued with religious leaders, members, and friends of the IRO. The Senior Minister of State accompanied him to the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Manpower Zaqy Mohamad.
The President of the IRO, Mr Noor Marican, initiated the prayer with the following:
๐๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ.
๐๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ข๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ข๐ช๐ญ. ๐๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ.
In this social media post about the event, President Tharman said:
Anyone with a conscience must also be repulsed by the killings by Hamas militants in Southern Israel. Brutally targeting civilians in their homes including the young, women and the elderly. Killing some 1400 and taking 210 people hostage.
Yes, there is a history to all this.
Everyone can understand the trauma felt by Israelis following the Hamas assault - the deadliest since Israelโs founding as a nation โ and the memories it brings of repeated pogroms against the Jews through history. And understand Israelโs relentless quest for security.
And no one can ignore the trauma and desperation of the Palestinians living under a 16-year Israeli siege of Gaza. In dehumanizing conditions, with limited clean water (even before the current blockade) and deprived of rights. Nor can one ignore the illegal encroachment by armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank, continuing the dispossession of Palestinians from their homes.
But one thing is clear. Nothing in their complex history, or the grief experienced by either, can justify the indiscriminate taking of civilian lives on either side. It offends basic human morality, and flouts international law.
I am relieved that the initial humanitarian assistance has begun to reach Gaza. However, it's evident that more aid is required, and there's a pressing need to escalate and expedite these efforts. Insha Allah | Baruch Hashem, for the sake of God's mercy, I hope we can collectively work towards addressing this.
I appeal to our broken hearts to seek closeness with God the Almighty and focus on saving lives now.
Holding the Ropes: Interfaith Dialogue & Reflections Surrounding the Israel-Gaza War is a blog series that follows the events, dialogues and reflections experienced by Nazhath Faheema in the aftermath of the 2023 Israel-Gaza war. Triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and Israelโs military response, there continues to be widespread destruction and civilian displacement in Gaza. Additionally, Israeli hostages remain in captivity.
Against this backdrop, Nazhath Faheema, through her reflections, provides insights into the dynamics of the war, its impact on interfaith relations, and the inherent challenges and opportunities in fostering understanding and empathy between Jewish and Muslim communities.
